CHANDIGARH: Two teams of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) from Delhi on Wednesday conducted raids at the offices of the Pearls Group in Chandigarh and Mohali in connection with a money laundering ponzi scheme. Simultaneous raids were also conducted at the Pearls Group offices in Delhi, Mumbai, and Jaipur. ED officials said at least ten premises of the firm and its directors and associates in Delhi, Mumbai, Mohali, Chandigarh, and Jaipur were searched under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

CBI is already probing criminal conspiracy and cheating charges against Bhangoo, his two companies - Pearls Agrotech Corporation Limited (PACL), and Pearls Golden Forest Limited (PGFL) - and their director Sukhdev Singh, since February last year. An ED official said searches were carried out on associate firms and company officials, and documents and computer hardware suspected to be containing vital information were seized.

The group is being probed by multiple agencies. Earlier, capital markets regulator SEBI had found that it had collected money from five crore investors through unauthorized collective investment schemes, also called ponzi schemes, in the name of real estate projects. Bhangoo is alleged to have infrastructure projects in Punjab and other cities, other than owning a TV news channel earlier. The company had allegedly cheated investors by offering them agricultural land-related schemes.